Nurse Joy, Day 22: True Lies

The lighthouse was bigger than I thought it would be and it was heavily guarded... by one trainer.  For some reason, he tried to stop me from getting past so I hit him over the head with a rock.  Its all right, I'm a Nurse, I can heal his injury later with my magic machine.

I opened the entrance and stepped inside.  Why was I here?  ...and that's when I caught my Growlithe... I wanted to find Pink McQueen.  The doctor had said she could be here.  Or did he say it?  Why am I here?

Stairs.  Lots of stairs.  I decided to climb them.  There were a lot of rooms as I went up.  One room had a boy with a dagger striking things that weren't there, or maybe they were invisible.  Still, he seemed pretty determined to kill the invisible things, whatever they were.  Aside from him however, there was nothing else in the lighthouse.  All that was left to search was the room at the top.

I reached the door and kicked it open, rolling in with my arms in fists, ready for an enemy trainer.  At some point during my stay here, my Pokémon had been taken.  I would have to fight using my skills instead.  All Nurse Joys knew Po-kérate.

There was no lady waiting for me.  No Pink McQueen.  Instead, ahead of me sat Doctor John Krabby in a white suit and bowtie ('cause bowties are cool) and beside him, stood a table and a whiteboard.  The doctor clapped his hands together and nodded.  "At last... I must say, I am disappointed in your progress.  I imagined you would be here sooner.  Tell me, did it trouble you to get here?"

I noticed some recording equipment nearby and some documents on the table.  "Has Pink McQueen left?" I asked, looking around the room.  There were two other doors that led to separate ways out.  I wondered if the young woman was out there waiting.

"Pink McQueen just arrived actually," said the doctor.  "But enough about that for the moment, I want to ask you something.  Are Nurse Joys born?"

Every Nurse Joy knew the answer to this question but we weren't allowed to tell anyone.  It was our secret.  We were formed in the memory of Mrs J.  She was the first Nurse Joy who was forced into creation by the treacherous Fool one hundred and forty one years ago.  We stand in her name, carrying out the healing service to the world.  Fool was an evil man but we understand the joy we bring to the world.  The joy he had envisioned.  In reality, all he wanted was to fix the planet.  We are simply saving PokéEarth from itself.  However, all I said to the doctor was, "Yes they are."

"I am aware of the Fool and what he did," said the doctor.  He rubbed his chin, changing the subject slightly.  "Do you know who you were beforehand?"

"I am Nurse Joy," I said simply.

The doctor asked, "But do you know who you were before you were Nurse Joy?"

I shook my head.  Of course I didn't.  Whoever I was before didn't matter anymore.  What right did I have to a life when Pokémon were suffering across the world?  I was Nurse Joy for now and forever.  Wait... he knew about Fool?

"They brainwashed you into a slave," said Doctor Krabby, standing up.  "They forced you just like Fool did with Mrs. J."

"I am Nurse Joy," I stated.  "Hello, and welcome to the Pokémon Center!  We restore your tired Pokémon to full health!  Would you like to rest your Pokémon?"

"Look at this board, concentrate on it!"  Doctor Krabby said suddenly.  He gestured to the whiteboard and there I saw writing on the wall.  "You see, Nurse Joy is an anagram of Pink McQueen!"

I shook my head.  That was silly.  I knew how anagrams worked.  "They don't match."

Doctor Krabby nodded, looking pleased.  "Pull out your ID.  What do you see?"

I took it out and inspected the photo.  ...The name's McQueen.  Pink McQueen.  (This is the part where there's a gunshot and blood slides down all cool like.)...  "This is Pink McQueen," I observed.  "This is the woman I am looking for?"

"You are the woman you are looking for."  That voice came from Chuck, the red-haired man in the suit.  He was real after all.

"Chuck," I said, happy to see my partner.

"My name is Silver," he said.

..."Pink McQueen!  I hear you are catching all sorts of Pokémon! Mind if I have some?  Family shares, you know that?"...

"These aren't my memories," I said.

"All this was orchestrated so that we could keep you safe from the Nurse Joys," said Doctor Krabby.  "Here on this island, we are far from any Pokémon Center and Police Station.  Your Pokémon have been under the careful watch of my team."  He looked at me with gentle eyes and asked, "How are the headaches?"

Headaches... headaches... hack...

"You've been going through withdrawal," said Doctor Gio.  Uncle Krabby.  "Your Chansey has been keeping you dosed up with blood to ensure you were kept as a perfect Nurse Joy.  Without it, you start exhibiting signs of your former self.  Of Pink McQueen."  He chuckled grimly.  "They thought they had you right were they wanted you.  They were even going to take you to a gathering after you had passed a test.  You see, a girl calling herself Pink McQueen entered your Center one day and you didn't even skip a word.  You knew yourself as Nurse Joy and that was it."  He picked some documents up and presented some photos.  They were of a young woman in ropes surrounded by Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys around a table.  "You met this woman at your Center.  You went out with her on a trip after some dead Pokémon that Silver left lying around.  Her name is Violet.  She had been practically dead and buried in Mt Moon as some idiot called Trainer Andrew had given her Moonstone to snort.  We had been following her for some time as we noticed the Officer Jennys were stalking her.  They converted Violet into an Officer Jenny just as they had converted you into a Nurse Joy."

..."Accipias et animæ comedet eos! Accipias et praesta animæ insignisvirtute! Accipias animæ sanguinem et benedic hoc! Accipias animæ atque unum facias!"...

I could remember hating the Nurse Joys.  I could remember finding them and then they used me.  They forced me to drink blood.  Such memories had me fall to my knees.

"Our tests showed that if we tried to force you back to your normal self, you would die," said Uncle Gio Krabby.  "And if we left you alone, you would remain as a Nurse Joy and with your Chansey by your side dosing you up, you would be a perfect Nurse Joy.  With these two options on our coin, we were desperate for a third option.  A time when that coin toss would yield it.  What if one coin lands on its edge?"  He knelt down before me and placed his hands on my shoulders.  "Pink McQueen," he said softly, "We couldn't fix you completely but we could give half of yourself back.  This way, the Nurse Joy side of your DNA would still be able to act and your old self could emerge alongside it.  So long as the Nurse Joy DNA could act it wouldn't fight the rest of your body.  Those pills and cigars we've been giving you contain your old DNA.  Your true DNA."

"That's all bloody nice, but what does it mean?" I demanded.

Uncle Gio smiled and said, "It means...!"

A shout rattled the whole lighthouse.  "HOW DARE THEY MIX MY HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGONITE SOUNDTRACK WITH THAT AWFUL FRIDAY SONG!  THAT'S IT GIOVANNI, I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!  NOW I'LL START MY OWN ISLAND WITH HOOKERS AND MY OWN CLONES AND MY OWN STADIUM!"

"It appears Mewtwo has left, Father," said Silver, smirking for some reason.

Uncle Gio glared at the red-haired man.

Suddenly, I felt my body lift off the ground and I was taken through an opening door out of the lighthouse and into the sky.  Mewtwo was stealing me away from my Uncle and from any answers I sought for.

Who am I?  Who are you?

Nurse Pink Joy McQueen